Three escape rooms built by hand in the old strongroom under Church Street: a bank vault, a Victorian coal exchange and a Cold War radio bunker. Two to six players, a game master on the radio, and the next free slot right here.
The rooms
Cardiff, 1927. The Western Counties Bank on St Mary Street keeps its night safe in a vault under the floor, and tonight the manager has gone home with the only key. You have an hour before the night watchman comes back down the stairs.
Next free: 10:00 tomorrow
Mount Stuart Square, 1904, the year a cheque for a million pounds was first signed in Cardiff. Somebody has forged the trading ledger to ruin a shipping firm, and the proof is somewhere in the counting house before the bell rings at noon.
Next free: 10:00 tomorrow
A radio bunker under the Welsh hills, 1962. The listening post went silent at 02:14 and nobody came out. You have been sent down to find out why, restore the signal and send the code word before the next scheduled call.
Next free: 10:00 tomorrow
The price
£60
£30 a head. The Night Safe is the best room for two; the others need three.
£92
£23 a head, the sweet spot for every room.
£114
£19 a head, the most a room takes. More than six, book two rooms and race.
−10%
Any room, any group size. The 10:00, 11:15, 12:30, 13:45 and 15:00 slots.
from £28
Twelve to eighteen people, a briefing, a debrief with footage, coffee and pastries.
£45
The lounge to yourselves with the photo board and the leaderboard screen.
How it works
Your hour starts when the door closes and the clock on the wall counts it down. If a prop fails, we stop the clock and add the time back. The fifteen minutes between games is how long it takes us to reset every lock properly.
The exit door has a green button on the inside that opens it, always, and the game master can see and hear the room. Leave for the loo and come back; the clock keeps running, that is all.
Three clues are free in every game and you ask for them on the walkie-talkie. More if you need them, at no charge, but each one after three adds a minute to your time on the leaderboard.
Every team gets a photograph with the board saying your time, emailed that evening. About half of teams escape; the photo is better when you do not, and you can come back and try again for 20 per cent off.
The leaderboard
Every escape goes on the board in the lobby and on the leaderboard page: the team name you give at the briefing, the time, the number of players and the month. Clues after the first three add a minute each, so the top of the board is the teams who asked least. About half of teams escape the Night Safe, a third the Coal Exchange and one in five Signal Lost.
Groups
01
A 1927 bank vault under St Mary Street: a combination dial, a wall of safety deposit boxes, a manager's desk with a secret, and an hour before the watchman comes back down the stairs. Our most played room and the one we suggest for a first game; about half of teams get out.
From £60 for two to £114 for six, any day, with 10 per cent off before 4pm Monday to Thursday.
02
A Victorian counting house off Mount Stuart Square on the morning a shipping firm is about to be ruined by a forged ledger. Brass scales, a pneumatic tube, a telegraph and a clock that matters: find the proof before the bell. Harder than the vault, more searching, more talking.
From £78 for three to £114 for six, any day, with 10 per cent off before 4pm Monday to Thursday.
03
A Cold War listening post under the Welsh hills that went silent at 02:14. Radios that tune, a map table, Morse, a red telephone and a sequence that only works when everyone is doing their part at once. Our hardest room: one team in five gets out, and the record is 46 minutes.
From £78 for three to £114 for six, any day, with 10 per cent off before 4pm Monday to Thursday.
04
Up to eighteen people across all three rooms at the same time, a briefing, a debrief with the footage and the scores, and the lounge for coffee and pastries before or a drink after. Weekday mornings are kept for companies. Ten minutes from Central Station; an invoice on account.
From £28 a head for twelve to eighteen people across all three rooms, with a briefing, the debrief and coffee and pastries.
05
A game and then the lounge to yourselves for an hour with the photo board, a cake if you bring one, and drinks from the bar next door. Birthdays from ten years old, stags and hens who want to remember the day, and families with children who solve things adults miss.
The game at the group price, plus £45 for the lounge for an hour after with the photo board and the music.
06
A voucher for a game for two, four or six, any room, any day, valid for twelve months, posted in a small black box with a brass key and a sealed envelope, or emailed the same day. The person who gets it books their own slot on the website with the code.
A game for two £60, for four £92, for six £114, valid for twelve months for any room on any day.
Players
Night Safe on a Saturday, out with four minutes left after asking for every free clue. The game master played the watchman on the radio and was very funny about his reading glasses. The photo arrived that evening and is now on the fridge.
The Coal Exchange is the best-researched room I have played anywhere: the ship names, the coal prices, a telegraph that actually clicks. We failed by forty seconds and booked again the same night.
We have done thirty-odd rooms across the UK and Signal Lost is in our top three. Proper audio puzzles, a twist halfway, and a finale that needs all of you. We escaped with ninety seconds left and screamed.
Find us
5 Church Street, between the bank and the café, two minutes from Queen Street and St Mary Street and ten from Central Station. Down the stairs, or the platform lift, to the lobby.
You and your team are in a themed room for sixty minutes with a story, a goal and a series of puzzles, locks and hidden things that lead to the way out. A game master watches on camera and sends clues when you ask. You are never actually locked in: the exit opens from the inside, always.
One price for the group: £60 for two, £78 for three, £92 for four, £105 for five, £114 for six, any room, any day, with 10 per cent off before 4pm Monday to Thursday. The booking page works out the total and the price a head.
The board on the home page reads the clock and the bookings and shows the next free slot in each room, today and tomorrow. Games run every 75 minutes from 10:00 to the last start at 21:15.
The Night Safe: it is the best for two, the best for a first game, and about half of teams escape. The Coal Exchange is harder and suits people who like a story; Signal Lost is the hardest and suits teams who have played before.
Two to six a room; the Coal Exchange and Signal Lost need three. More than six, book two rooms at the same time and race; all three take eighteen.
There is a platform lift from the street. The Night Safe and the Coal Exchange are fully accessible for wheelchair users and Signal Lost has one step we ramp. Every sound puzzle has a visual version; tell us when you book.
The rooms page shows every free slot today and tomorrow, room by room; the booking page works out the price for your group. We confirm by email within the hour, and anything starting in the next hour is a phone call.
